Doctor Neighbor

Doctor Neighbor is a 1916 American silent feature film black and white melodrama. The film was directed by Lloyd B. Carleton. It stars Hobart Bosworth and pairs Dorothy Davenport and Emory Johnson in leading roles.

The film explores the moral dilemma of whether a doctor should assist a patient in taking their own life when the patient is in great pain and facing imminent death.

The movie was released on May 1, 1916, by Universal.

Plot
Dr. Joel Neighbor is a famous 42-year-old surgeon. He has built up vast medical knowledge through his years of practice and has dedicated his life to saving people. His ward, Hazel Rogers, is a beautiful 18-year-old heiress. She lives with her mother. Dr. Neighbor is the guardian of Hazel's fortune until she turns 21. In the event of her death, the doctor would become the heir to the estate.

Now that Hazel is coming of age, Dr. Neighbor asks her to become his wife. Hazel graciously declines his proposal. Hazel tells the doctor; she is in love with a district attorney named Hamilton Powers. Hazel has already promised to marry him. The doctor is against the marriage but accepts her reasons and bows out.

After Hazel marries Hamilton Powers, she realizes he is aloof and utterly committed to his law practice. Powers is respectful of Hazel but loves Hazel's close friend, a nurse named Christine Hall.

Powers asks Dr. Neighbor to transfer his trustee rights to Hazel's estate, but Dr. Neighbor refuses the request. After being rebuffed, Powers becomes even colder in his treatment of Hazel. After a few months of marriage, Powers leaves Hazel's magnificent home on Long Island to go to New York City. He claims he will have more opportunities to practice law in the big city.

Two guests arrive at Hazel's home to console her in her loneliness, Mrs. Preston and Morgan Keith. While the group is engaged in a friendly discussion, Powers shows up from New York City. Hazel and Hamilton have a bitter disagreement.

Hazel is distraught and goes for a drive in her car. While driving too fast, she has an accident that fractures her back and leaves her a helpless invalid. Dr. Neighbor attends to her, and Nurse Christine shows up to help care for her friend.

One night Hazel is in unbearable pain and cries out to Dr. Neighbor to put her out of her misery. Even though he still loves Hazel, the doctor must follow his oath. Christine, overwrought by her friend's agony and suffering, administers a fatal dose of morphine. After completing the deed, Christine forgets to dispose of the hypodermic needle and inadvertently leaves it on the table. Hazel will never awake. Dr. Neighbor enters the room, finds the needle, and puts it in his pocket.

Later, the authorities discover the needle that administered the fatal dose of morphine in the doctor's pocket. Since there is no love lost between Powers and Neighbor, Powers calls for an immediate inquiry. Hamilton points out that Hazel's death leaves Dr. Neighbor as the sole beneficiary of her fortune. The doctor keeps quiet during the entire criminal investigation. After they complete the inquiry, they charge Dr. Neighbor with murder. He must stand trial for homicide. During the trial, Christine becomes overwhelmed with remorse and confesses to the crime. After Christine's confession, they release Dr. Neighbor.

Hamilton Powers suffers from heart failure and needs a massive transfusion of blood to survive. Dr. Neighbor has the same blood type as Powers and donates his blood so that Powers may live.

Christine, freed from her prison term, pays a visit to Dr. Neighbor. She discovers him dead from exhaustion and loss of blood.

Pre-production
In the book, "American Cinema's Transitional Era," the authors point out, One aspect of this transition was the longer duration of films. Feature films  were slowly becoming the standard fare for Hollywood producers. Before 1913, you could count the yearly features on two hands. Between 1915 and 1916, the number of feature movies rose $2 1/2$ times or from 342 films to 835. There was a recurring claim that Carl Laemmle was the longest-running studio chief resisting the production of feature films. Universal was not ready to downsize its short film business because short films were cheaper, faster, and more profitable to produce than feature films.

Laemmle would continue to buck this trend while slowly increasing his output of features. In 1914, Laemmle published an essay titled - In 1916, Laemmle ran an advertisement extolling Bluebird films while adding the following vocabulary on the top of the ad. Carl Laemmle released 91 feature-length films in 1916, as stated in Clive Hirschhorn's book,

Casting

 * Hobart Van Zandt Bosworth (1867-1943) was 48 years old when he starred in this movie as Dr. Joel Neighbor. Bosworth was a well-known Universal actor. After Universal signed a 21-year-old Emory Johnson, Hobart thought he saw a potential mega-career for the 21-year-old. Hobart decided to mentor the young actor. After finishing The Yaqui released March 1916, they immediately made another feature-length Western -  Two Men of Sandy Bar released in April. Later in the year, Emory would make two more films with Bosworth. They would continue collaborating in other films in the coming years. In Bosworth's long cinematic career, he appeared in nearly 300 films.
 * Dorothy Davenport (1895-1977) was an established star for Universal when the 21 year-old actress played Hazel Rogers. She had acted in hundreds of movies by the time she starred in this film. The majority of these films were 2-reel shorts, as was the norm in Hollywood's teen years. She had been making movies since 1910. She started dating Wally Reid when she was barely 16, and he was 20. They married in 1913. After her husband died in 1923, she used the name "Mrs. Wallace Reid" in the credits for any project she took part in. Besides being an actress, she would eventually become a film director, producer, and writer.
 * Emory Johnson (1894-1960) was 22 years old when he acted in this movie as Hamilton Powers. In January 1916, Emory signed a contract with Universal Film Manufacturing Company. Carl Laemmle of Universal Film Manufacturing Company thought he saw great potential in Johnson, so he chooses him to be Universal's new leading man. Laemmle's hope was Johnson would become another Wallace Reed. A major part of his plan was to create a movie couple that would sizzle on the silver screen. Laemmle thought Dorothy Davenport and Emory Johnson could create the chemistry he sought. Johnson and Davenport would complete 13 films together. They started with the successful feature production of this movie in May 1916 and ended with The Devil's Bondwoman in November 1916. After completing the last movie, Laemmle thought Johnson did not have the screen presence he wanted. He decided not to renew his contract. Johnson would make 17 movies in 1916, including 6 shorts and 11 feature-length Dramas. 1916 would become the second-highest movie output of his entire acting career. Emory acted in 25 films for Universal, mostly dramas with a sprinkling of comedies and westerns.
 * Gretchen Lederer (1891-1955) was 24 years old when she portrayed Christine Hall. The German actress got her first start in 1912 with Carl Laemmle of Universal Film Manufacturing Company. At the time of this film, she was still a Universal contract actress. She would unite with Emory Johnson in the 1916 productions of A Yoke of Gold and The Morals of Hilda.
 * Adele Farrington (Mrs. Hobart Bosworth) (c. 1867-1936) was 49 years old when she portrayed Mrs. Preston. She was also a Universal contract player appearing in 74 films between 1914 and 1926. Although she got her start in movies when she was 47-years-old (1914), Universal cast her mostly in character leads. Many of her roles were acting alongside her husband, Hobart Bosworth, who married in 1909 and divorced in 1920. In addition to her roles as an actress, she was also a music composer and writer.
 * Margaret Whistler (1888-1939) was 27 years old when she played the role of Mrs. Albert Rogers. Before entering the film business, she had appeared in vaudeville, stock, and circuses, where she was a lion and tiger trainer. She entered the movie industry in 1911 with Lubin and then signed a contract with Universal in 1913. Whistler usually played heavies and character leads. Besides being a talented actress, Whistler is an authority on dress and a very successful designer.

Director
Lloyd B. Carleton (c. 1872–1933) started working for Carl Laemmle in the Fall of 1915. Carleton arrived with impeccable credentials, having directed some 60 films for the likes of Thanhouser, Lubin, Fox, and Selig. Between March and December 1916, 44-year-old Lloyd Carleton directed 16 movies for Universal, starting with The Yaqui and ending with The Morals of Hilda. Emory Johnson acted in all 16 of these films. Of Carleton's total 1916 output, 11 were feature films, and the rest were two-reel shorts.

Dorothy Davenport and Emory Johnson were paired in 13 films directed by Carleton in 1916. Carleton was given the task by Carl Laemmle to determine if the Davenport-Johnson duo had the desired on-screen chemistry. Doctor Neighbor was the series' inaugural film.

Screenplay
We have very limited information about Agnes Hay, the screen and story writer for this film. Agnes May is credited as the screenwriter in the Library of Congress Copyright records. The Library of Congress entry was misprinted because all subsequent publications credit Ages Hay as the story creator.

According to the June 10, 1916 edition of the Monterey Daily Cypress and Monterey American, Agnes Hay The April 22, 1916 issue of the Motion Picture News states:

Agnes Hay is mentioned again in 1923. An item in the March 3, 1923 issue of The Moving Picture World reads:

Authortative sources list this film as her only credit.

Themes
This film examines the topic of euthanasia and mercy killing. It highlighted the ethical predicament doctors meet when given these options:
 * Support a terminally ill patient in ending their life to alleviate their unmanageable pain.
 * Help the patient when they make the decision to keep living, even in the face of inevitable suffering and pain.

Also, is it a breach of the Hippocratic Oath to aid a patient in ending their incurable suffering by assisting in their early death?

Filming
On March 15, 1915, Laemmle opened the world's largest motion picture production facility, Universal City Studios. Since this film required no location shooting, it was filmed in its entirety at the new studio complex.The photoplay was filmed sometime between January and early February 1916.

Working title
When films enter production, they need the means to reference the project. A Working title is assigned to the project. A Working Title can also be named an In many cases, a working title will become the release title.

Working titles are used primarily for two reasons:
 * An official title for the project has not been determined
 * A non-descript title to mask the real reason for making the movie.

This film had several alternate titles including:
 * Doctor Samson
 * Dr. Neighbor
 * A Law for the Detective
 * Dr. Samson

Post production
The theatrical release of this film totaled five reels or 4,921 feet of film. As is often the case, the listed time for this feature-length movie varies. The average time per 1,000-foot 35mm reel varied between ten and fifteen minutes per reel at the time. Thus, the total time for this movie is computed between fifty and seventy-five minutes.

Official release
The copyright was filed with U.S. Copyright Office on April 7, 1916. and entered into the record as shown:

In 1916, movies were always released on Mondays. This film was officially released on Monday, May 1, 1916.

Advertising
Advertising plays a vital role in ensuring a movie's success by bringing paying customers to the theater. By providing details about plotlines, actors, release dates, and other key information, a successful marketing campaign boosts excitement among potential stakeholders. This knowledge empowered theater owners to make smarter booking decisions in a competitive market. In addition to an advertising campaign for a movie, Carl Laemmle added another wrinkle to assist potential stakeholders in deciding to view or book a new film.

In 1916, Universal became the first Hollywood studio to classify feature films based on production cost. One of the reasons behind this move was that the "Big Five" film studios owned their own movie houses, enabling them to have guaranteed outlets for their entertainment products. Unlike the majors, Universal did not own any theaters or theater chains. Branding all Universal-produced feature films would give theater owners another tool to judge the films they were about to lease and help fans decide which movies they wanted to see.

In 1916, Universal produced 91 branded feature films, consisting of 44 and 47  productions. The branding system had a brief existence and, by 1920, had faded away.

Reviews
The critics generally liked this film and its sensitive subject matter.

In the May 6, 1916, issue of the New York Clipper, Len wrote: "'Hobart Bosworth is an excellent screen actor ... In 'Dr. Neighbor,' he has ample scope for the display of his talents ... Good Production, competent action. All in all, good picture.'"

In the April 22, 1916 issue of the Motion Picture News, Peter Milne wrote: "'Hobart Bosworth makes a powerful figure of the doctor, and Dorothy Davenport is the center of great sympathy as the ruined girl. Gretchen Lederer is the nurse, Emory Johnson the husband, while Adele Farrington and Margaret Whistler have other prominent parts which they handled exceedingly well. Lloyd B. Carleton directed. His work is praiseworthy, for he has handled an extremely delicate subject in the least offensive manner possible.'"

In the April 22, 1916 issue of The Moving Picture World, Robert C. McElravy wrote: "'This subject takes up in pictorial form the mooted question as to whether a doctor should under any circumstances take the life of a patient to save unnecessary suffering when death is but a matter of time or the patient doomed to a shattered mentality in case of recovery. Dealing as it does with the problem of human suffering, it contains many scenes that are far from cheerful, and yet the theme is presented in a manner that avoids skillfully the merely sordid or depressing. This is very interesting as a study of medical ethics. The plot moves a little slowly at first, and the minor characters are rather shadowy for the reason that they have but little to do.'"

Preservation status
Many silent-era films did not survive for reasons as explained on this Wikipedia page.

According to the Library of Congress, all known copies of this film are lost.